The granting of emergency use authorization by the U.S. FDA to Roche AG for its four-in-one molecular test for SARS-CoV-2, Influenza A/B viruses and respiratory syncytial virus will allow the company to quickly bring the test to near-patient care environments ahead of the flu season, to address a real need in the marketplace, Ian Parfrement, head of the point of care customer area, at Roche Diagnostics, told BioWorld.

An enzyme that activates cell death could be targeted to avoid the inflammation and lung lesions caused by influenza A virus (IAV). A collaborative study demonstrated that an inhibitor of receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 3 (RIPK3) blocked necroptosis in infected alveolar epithelial cells and prevented the consequences in the lungs of severe disease.

South Korean researchers from the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) developed a new fluorescence-based lateral-flow immunoassay (LFI) enhanced with gold nanorod (GNR)-based probes to detect viral infections like the influenza A virus.

Via Nova Therapeutics Inc. has received clearance of its IND application from the FDA for its influenza A nucleoprotein inhibitor, VNT-101. The novel investigational small molecule is directed against a novel target, the influenza A nucleoprotein, and is being developed for treatment of seasonal influenza A infection.

Influenza A virus (IAV) is an RNA virus that can infect humans and also animals such as birds and pigs with high infectivity. Although there are several groups of anti-IAV drugs in the market, there is a need for new strategies due to the emergence of resistance and the high variability of the virus. One of the potential targets to watch in this disease is hemagglutinin (HA).